1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to making of decorative and utilitarian articles of polymeric material and the articles themselves.
2. Prior Art
The use of polymeric substances has reached nearly every area of daily life. Products made from polymeric substances can be found in homes, offices, and automobiles. The use of these materials is widespread because they are versatile, decorative, and provide durability and great strength for their weight.
Acrylic is a type of polymeric substance which is a resin that has many and varied applications. Acrylic is formed by the polymerization of its monomeric derivatives, most commonly esters or amides, of acrylic acid or methylacrylic acid.
Acrylic resins have been widely used in floor coverings, however, their main use is for optical purposes, such as lenses and instrument covers because of their transparency and resistance to age, light, weak acids, alkalies, alcohols, paraffins, and fatty oils. The exact formula for these acrylic compounds varies with the companies that manufacture them. Once these compounds are prepared, they are cast, formed, and finished to produce a material of high optical quality.
It is known in the art that once acrylic is stretched, it becomes stronger and more craze or resistant. Private industry and the United States government uses an acrylic type material that is stretched after it is cast and then finished to be transparent with very little optical distortion. One application for this material is as windows for airplanes, and is assigned the military specification number MIL-P-8184E. The process disclosed in this invention works well with this type of material, due to the fact that it is a polymer, and has been stretched in at least one direction.